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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Handstands and skirts

34 replies

scotchbroth1 · 23/06/2011 22:19

Today DD(8) came home telling me one of the supervisors in the playground said if they want to do handstands on the field and are wearing a skirt they should tuck it into their knickers. I really don't get this, as I can see it would prevent the skirt flopping up over their eyes, but surely it exposes their knickers even more. DD is not ashamed of people seeing her knickers and if she was she would wear shorts under her skirts or just not do handstands.

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lilolilmanchester · 23/06/2011 22:23

not sure how tucking a skirt in round their knickers would expose knickers even more than the skirt being over their eyes and showing all their knickers scotchbroth????

Shorts under skirt probably the best option.

hocuspontas · 23/06/2011 22:28

They mean tuck it up from the outside into the bottom of the knicker legs.

mathanxiety · 24/06/2011 03:46

My DCs' school had a policy that all girls wore shorts under their pinafores, with handstands/ cartwheels in mind.

howabout · 24/06/2011 05:39

I don't think it is about exposing knickers - more to do with the fact that if your skirt is long enough for decency then you don't have enough leg scope for cartwheels and handstands. Had this discussion with my DDs only this week.

LindyHemming · 24/06/2011 07:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pointissima · 24/06/2011 08:29

The world seems to have become very anxious about girls knickers. In the distant past when I was at primary school girls (apart from me, I never got the hang of handstands- a source of great mortification) used to spend most of their time upside down with their knickers showing. None of the boys seemed at all interested.

I'm curious as to why this has changed. An over-emphasis on pre-pubescent modesty seems to undermine childhood innocence a bit. It's odd that this should exist side by side with all the inappropriately tarty girls' clothes in the shops.

Only have a boy myself, so this is pure curiosity

vintageteacups · 24/06/2011 11:06

whatever happened to that song....

"............and show your knickers to the football team!" (can't remember the first bit )

howabout · 24/06/2011 12:44

I completely agree with you pointissima, and I have 2 DDs. I also live opposite a secondary school and am bewildered at the number of parents who tut at the length of the girls' skirts etc. I am a child of the early 70s and so I can remember my Mum, let alone me, wearing skirts the same length.
It sometimes feels like we are heading back to Victorian times.

BeattieBow · 24/06/2011 12:49

My dds aren't in the least bit bothered about showing their knickers while they are doing handstands in the playground, and I wouldn't expect them to be. i would be angry if the teachers at their school (a primary one) made it an issue tbh.

Ime they get self conscious when they are older anyway in the normal, natural way of things, no need to make it an issue at 8 years old.

meditrina · 24/06/2011 13:35

I'd have interpreted the instruction as something to help keep the fabric out of the way whilst upside down, not a "modesty" measure.

DD seems to spend all the time inverted as she's just learned to cartwheel. When she's in a skirt, the fabric does get in the way when she 's trying to out a few together (this isn't just when she's in uniform!)

Original poster

scotchbroth1 · 24/06/2011 17:04

Oh right I think I see. I'll get her to practise this for going back after summer hols. I agree a girls this age shouldn't think twice about undergarments, unlike at 12/13.

OP posts:

clam · 24/06/2011 19:16

"a girls this age shouldn't think twice about undergarments"
Maybe not, but there will be children at school of a similar age (and older) who are much more 'mature' and who will be viewing it in a way that might make you prefer her to cover up.

colditz · 24/06/2011 19:19

knickers are clothes. No child is 'indecent' if it is clothed.

Lisatheonewhoeatsdrytoast · 24/06/2011 19:22

Oh god, i left primary school in 1996, and my god the world has changed dramatically since then! I remember doing handstands in the playground etc with my knickers on full show as we all did and not one boy/girl/person showed the slightest bit of interest, it wasn't until we got to maybe 12, when we ourselves put shorts on just because we had become a bit more body aware, but until then i didn't give a hoot!

HumphreyCobbler · 24/06/2011 19:23

knickers are there to cover up. We don't need something else to cover up the knickers. It is getting like the fifties out there now.

I really dislike this trend towards making young girls cover up - what is this teaching them? They should just do handstands if they want to and not be bothered by what they might be showing.

Sorry OP, realise this is not what your op is about

GrimmaTheNome · 24/06/2011 19:25

DD once did this poem for an elocution exam. But I don't think any of the girls were actually at all bothered about doing cartwheels or handstands in their primary school.

She's now of an age where she sees merit in skorts

Could Have Been Worse

My friends have never seen London,
They?ve never been to France,
But yesterday at recess
They saw my underpants.

I kicked a ball, my skirt flew up
And I know what they saw.
The girls all stared and blushed and laughed
The boys said, ?Oo-la-la!?

I?ve thought a lot about it.
This conclusion I have drawn:
I?m embarrassed that they saw them,
But I?m glad I had them on.

GrimmaTheNome · 24/06/2011 19:29

The first year or two at secondary school we did gym in aertext shirt and navy knickers - and they really were just biggish knickers. There was special dispensation to wear a skirt over if you had your period. They did have the boys and girls separately, but once in a while we were made to go outside in them.

That was embarrassing. Wear knickers, or proclaim to the world you were 'on'.

cybboid · 24/06/2011 19:31

Dont they all prance around in their underwear when they get changed for PE?

hocuspontas · 24/06/2011 19:39

Yes, but the boys are too so it's fair

The answer is equality of uniform then it wouldn't matter. In the winter the girls can wear trousers. In the summer there should be an option of shorts or culottes. Forget summer dresses - that's a tradition that needs axing.

GrimmaTheNome · 24/06/2011 19:41

Oh no...summer dresses are lovely and cool.

Original poster

scotchbroth1 · 24/06/2011 19:45

In case anyone is in doubt DD could wear trousers every day of school if she wanted to. There is no restriction at her school, though technically primaries cant enforce uniform at all. She doesn't wear a summer dress either as she thinks they look stupid.

OP posts:

EssentialFattyAcid · 24/06/2011 19:47

Girls should be free to do cartwheels and handstands with their knickers showing and anyone who makes a fuss about it should be dealt with strictly.

Portofino · 24/06/2011 19:52

We did PE in navy blue knickers aged 12/13. I don't understand this issue about little girl's knickers. We are seeing a problem that doesn't/shouldn't exist.

snicker · 24/06/2011 19:58

If you don't tuck your dress into your knickers then it goes over your head.

PlanetEarth · 24/06/2011 20:16

We used to tuck skirts into knickers doing handstands, and I'm pretty old! I do remember the annoyingness of having your skirt collapse over your head if you didn't - but maybe skirts were longer in those days .

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